She suffered incredibly - a heart attack, breast cancer, an infection following a hip replacement, and latterly, emphysema. On stage, she was often seated. She fought bravely, and I hope she is now at peace.

Lightnin Hopkins
Ain't It Lonesome in your home when all your good friends are gone.

[youtu.be]

I've many fond memories of Marianne, a very cool lady

--------------
ColonialstoneNZ
--------------

Sing Me Back Home... Marianne Faithfull with Keith Richards

I hope Marianne and Anita will find each other, somewhere over the Rainbow!
Thanks for all the beauty things, you gave us! Will miss you girls!



It`s nice to be here, .....



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2025-02-02 01:22 by witterings.

Very sad news. I will miss her. My condolences to Mick, her family, devoted fans & friends. Rip til we meet again.

Found this. Makes you think about what could have been. Seems like at that point they thought they were going to be together forever, even if they both were playing the part of rebelious anti-marriage types. Based on what I've read in several books Mick did want to marry Marianne.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2025-02-02 04:38 by Glimmerest.

A sadness that pierces the heart.

Marianne Faithfull's Survival Tactics

The singer, who cleverly turned her stumbles into a mythical career, would have been overwhelmed by so much Kyrie eleison.

Diego A. Manrique
February 3, 2025 - 05:34 CET

Let's see... how to explain it without offending anyone? It's impossible to pinpoint details when death bestows that final halo of sainthood, aside from the conventional notion that considers it "bad manners" to point out inconsistencies in official biographies. I suspect that Marianne Faithfull wouldn't have shared such prejudices. She had a sharp tongue and, in truth, was a tremendous snob. During a visit to Madrid, staying in a luxury suite, she was outraged to learn that David Beckham had once lived in the same hotel, perhaps even the same room: "Beckham, the footballer? How awful. If it had been Beckett, the playwright..."


She approached her career with a certain frivolity. On another visit to Spain, she cut short her recital at a theater. Force majeure? No, she was simply in a hurry to attend the after-party of her friends from the band Blur, who were playing at a large venue that same night. Too often, her habits and social agenda took precedence over her professional commitments. When she was rediscovered as a powerful supporting actress in the 1990s, it was conveniently overlooked that in earlier decades, she had explicitly rejected that profession. In the '60s and early '70s, Marianne did theater and television but generally refused leading roles in films that required weeks or months of filming away from her usual circle.

It was easier for Marianne to stand out as a singer. As soon as she appeared on the pop scene in London, Andrew Loog Oldham captured her with his characteristic bluntness: "An angel with big tits." The Rolling Stones' manager knew how to craft her a compelling narrative—connections to the Austro-Hungarian aristocracy and Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, convent education, early marriage, a virginal folk singer... all abandoned for Mick Jagger. A relationship that would forever define Faithfull’s image. In reality, her personal life was far more complex: affairs with celebrities, abortions, suicide attempts, bitter experiences. And a fundamental contradiction: the reputation of being a promiscuous creature, when in fact, she later admitted that she had spent decades intimidated by sexuality. She once recalled flirting with Bob Dylan but backing out at the last moment.

Marianne’s 1970s were mythologized by her biographer, David Dalton, with full complicity from the protagonist. Her time as a homeless person and squatter in Soho or Chelsea was exaggerated. A highly effective safety net was always in place to protect her—for instance, enrolling her in the National Health Service’s addiction program, which granted her free access to high-quality heroin. However, she refused to sign up for Britain's unemployment benefits; some see this as a gesture of patrician arrogance, though perhaps she was simply receiving income from albums (Masques, Rich Kid Blues, Dreamin’ My Dreams, Faithless) and films made during those years.

Mick Jagger was not one of her benefactors, unlike Chris Blackwell. The founder of Island Records signed her in 1978, subsidizing her until the release of the brutal Broken English. Blackwell knew how to handle difficult artists and excused Marianne’s tendency toward turbulent relationships with men who meddled in her music and career (one of them, François Ravard, even co-authored a second “autobiography” of the diva). As a consequence, she shifted between residences in the United States, Ireland, and continental Europe; London was not among her favorite places ("too many paparazzi"), despite the fact that her half-brother, her only son Nicholas, and her grandchildren lived there.
Mercury


She eventually returned to the British capital, where she formed a duo with another fiery satellite expelled from the Stones' orbit, Anita Pallenberg. According to Marianne, they were "fabulous beasts" ready to intimidate. Adored by hip society, she demanded limousines for transportation and insisted on being treated like a baroness ("just like my mother"), perhaps as an antidote to her fear of poverty.

An exaggerated fear—she owned real estate in several major cities. Contrary to her reputation as a dilettante, she worked hard: she released over a dozen albums after being rescued by Chris Blackwell, demonstrating a keen instinct for collaborators. And her performance schedule was reasonably intense, despite her illnesses and accidents. Moreover, she gave great interviews, often including a jab at Mick Jagger. And, not coincidentally, she would then proceed to praise Keith Richards, who played a key role in helping her reclaim credit for Sister Morphine. She enjoyed telling the story, laughing: "My love affairs always leave a trail."


source [elpais.com]

Quote
emotionalbarbecue
Marianne Faithfull's Survival Tactics

The singer, who cleverly turned her stumbles into a mythical career, would have been overwhelmed by so much Kyrie eleison.

Diego A. Manrique
February 3, 2025 - 05:34 CET

Let's see... how to explain it without offending anyone? It's impossible to pinpoint details when death bestows that final halo of sainthood, aside from the conventional notion that considers it "bad manners" to point out inconsistencies in official biographies. I suspect that Marianne Faithfull wouldn't have shared such prejudices. She had a sharp tongue and, in truth, was a tremendous snob. During a visit to Madrid, staying in a luxury suite, she was outraged to learn that David Beckham had once lived in the same hotel, perhaps even the same room: "Beckham, the footballer? How awful. If it had been Beckett, the playwright..."


She approached her career with a certain frivolity. On another visit to Spain, she cut short her recital at a theater. Force majeure? No, she was simply in a hurry to attend the after-party of her friends from the band Blur, who were playing at a large venue that same night. Too often, her habits and social agenda took precedence over her professional commitments. When she was rediscovered as a powerful supporting actress in the 1990s, it was conveniently overlooked that in earlier decades, she had explicitly rejected that profession. In the '60s and early '70s, Marianne did theater and television but generally refused leading roles in films that required weeks or months of filming away from her usual circle.

It was easier for Marianne to stand out as a singer. As soon as she appeared on the pop scene in London, Andrew Loog Oldham captured her with his characteristic bluntness: "An angel with big tits." The Rolling Stones' manager knew how to craft her a compelling narrative—connections to the Austro-Hungarian aristocracy and Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, convent education, early marriage, a virginal folk singer... all abandoned for Mick Jagger. A relationship that would forever define Faithfull’s image. In reality, her personal life was far more complex: affairs with celebrities, abortions, suicide attempts, bitter experiences. And a fundamental contradiction: the reputation of being a promiscuous creature, when in fact, she later admitted that she had spent decades intimidated by sexuality. She once recalled flirting with Bob Dylan but backing out at the last moment.

Marianne’s 1970s were mythologized by her biographer, David Dalton, with full complicity from the protagonist. Her time as a homeless person and squatter in Soho or Chelsea was exaggerated. A highly effective safety net was always in place to protect her—for instance, enrolling her in the National Health Service’s addiction program, which granted her free access to high-quality heroin. However, she refused to sign up for Britain's unemployment benefits; some see this as a gesture of patrician arrogance, though perhaps she was simply receiving income from albums (Masques, Rich Kid Blues, Dreamin’ My Dreams, Faithless) and films made during those years.

Mick Jagger was not one of her benefactors, unlike Chris Blackwell. The founder of Island Records signed her in 1978, subsidizing her until the release of the brutal Broken English. Blackwell knew how to handle difficult artists and excused Marianne’s tendency toward turbulent relationships with men who meddled in her music and career (one of them, François Ravard, even co-authored a second “autobiography” of the diva). As a consequence, she shifted between residences in the United States, Ireland, and continental Europe; London was not among her favorite places ("too many paparazzi"), despite the fact that her half-brother, her only son Nicholas, and her grandchildren lived there.
Mercury


She eventually returned to the British capital, where she formed a duo with another fiery satellite expelled from the Stones' orbit, Anita Pallenberg. According to Marianne, they were "fabulous beasts" ready to intimidate. Adored by hip society, she demanded limousines for transportation and insisted on being treated like a baroness ("just like my mother"), perhaps as an antidote to her fear of poverty.

An exaggerated fear—she owned real estate in several major cities. Contrary to her reputation as a dilettante, she worked hard: she released over a dozen albums after being rescued by Chris Blackwell, demonstrating a keen instinct for collaborators. And her performance schedule was reasonably intense, despite her illnesses and accidents. Moreover, she gave great interviews, often including a jab at Mick Jagger. And, not coincidentally, she would then proceed to praise Keith Richards, who played a key role in helping her reclaim credit for Sister Morphine. She enjoyed telling the story, laughing: "My love affairs always leave a trail."


source [elpais.com]

I just ordered Faithfull. This implies I should take it with a grain of salt.

Maryann truly inspired me to not give up on a drug addict. I saw her in NYC at City Winery about 15 years ago. I liked her because she talked between songs and gave some background. She said it only took one person's extended hand to pull her up out of her addiction. I decided right then and there to be that person for someone I already gave up on, and it was the best thing I ever did to give a second chance to someone who turned their life around. Marianne lived a life of ups and downs. But if it wasn't for that one person, she would be dead. That person was her mother.

Thank you, Barbecue, for that very interesting article. I think it's wrong to speak ill of the dead; after all, they can't defend themselves. But I've always seen Mick, Keith, Brian, Marianne, and Anita as complex human beings, replete with glaring character flaws as well as their prodigious gifts. Marianne and Anita were both narcissistic drama queens and emotional vampires who could suck all the energy out of a room and and those in their orbit. I read that Mick ended it with Marianne because a higher-up in the Stones.Inc - maybe Les Perrin, expressed concern about her heroin use. Mick was, is and always will be a success-focused workhorse, and that was it for Marianne.

I personally never liked her music and never bought any of her albums. But she was a sensitive, intelligent, well-educated woman who was the inspiration and impetus for some of the best music of the 20th century, and I applaud her for being that.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2025-02-05 07:21 by Bliss.

Quote
Bliss
I think it's wrong to speak ill of the dad; after all, they can't defend themselves.

Typo of the year

From Rufus Wainwright, Facebook:

There was never anyone like her, and there never will be. There was a strange dichotomy between this will-o-the-wisp flowery beauty and this hard, gnarly rock’n’roll figure. She had these two strains, which were very strong, and yet kind of complete opposites.

She was a fan of my mother, of the McGarrigle sisters, and occasionally she would come to their shows. I met her backstage when I was a little kid. But it was really through Hal Willner that I got to know her: he would do tribute shows, to Harry Smith or Leonard Cohen, and she would show up. I always loved her album Broken English, with [from The Ballad of Lucy Jordan] “She realised she’d never ride/Through Paris in a sports car …” But when she did a Kurt Weill tribute with Hal, and sang the Ballad of the Soldier’s Wife, that’s when she really clicked.

And then it really gelled when I started hanging out with Carrie Fisher, because Marianne and her were very close. I had several wild evenings seated between them. They were completely classic, original legends, who seemed to live in a universe all their own, and it was very decadent, incredibly funny and totally rock’n’roll. One of the craziest times was when I spent a week partying with Marianne and my mother. I’m won't get into too many details – it was quite intense. I think I went to rehab two weeks later. We talked about music, jokes, sex, the craziness of life.

Marianne struggled with addiction for many years, and she never quite won that battle. It was always haunting her. But the main thing about her, putting the drugs aside, is that she was a great fan of music. She was really affected by a wonderful song or brilliant performance. She clocked pretty early on that I was on a fairly good track, and she really was excited for me. And it was when she came to me and said: “Rufus, you’ve really made it”, that I knew that I had. I knew there wasn’t a modicum of bullshit in her assessments in general.

That’s what I most cherish about the relationship with her: when she was clear-eyed, and engaged artistically, she was such a rich judge of depth and meaning, and the true brilliance of what music can be. There was nothing cheap about her whatsoever.

Sorry for typo!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2025-02-05 07:23 by Bliss.

She released some tremendous tremendous albums, especially starting in the '90s through the aughts.

The Guardian:
“Cave called her: “A wild woman, bold, brilliant and beautiful. We have lost not just a fiercely unique talent, but the stored knowledge of a generation. Through her extraordinary, defiant and lived in voice, Marianne brought her own maverick truth to every song she sang, and every story she spoke. We loved her very much.”

Ellis said: “I thought you’d bury us all, gorgeous. You were revolutionary. I love you, Marianne.”

Quote
Bliss
Sorry for typo!

Nothing to be sorry about - gave me a good laugh!

Short article about Marianne in Vogue.

[www.vogue.com]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2025-02-05 19:44 by TornAndFried.

Quote
TornAndFried
Short article about Marianne in Vogue.

[www.vogue.com]

Nice homage.

Audio interview from The Telegraph in 1994

[www.telegraph.co.uk]

Mojo magazine, April 2025

Quote
Cristiano Radtke




Mojo magazine, April 2025

Oh it's coming out in a couple of months? Wonder if there will be info about the possible biopic.

Quote
Glimmerest

Quote
Cristiano Radtke

Mojo magazine, April 2025

Oh it's coming out in a couple of months? Wonder if there will be info about the possible biopic.

It's already out in UK shops. Other than that obituary, she's mentioned in another article of this issue as being one of the artists (among Bruce Springsteen and Willie Nelson) that will be featured in a Tom Waits songbook to be released this year by Ace Records, with covers personally selected by Tom himself.

Quote
Cristiano Radtke

Quote
Glimmerest

Quote
Cristiano Radtke

Mojo magazine, April 2025

Oh it's coming out in a couple of months? Wonder if there will be info about the possible biopic.

It's already out in UK shops. Other than that obituary, she's mentioned in another article of this issue as being one of the artists (among Bruce Springsteen and Willie Nelson) that will be featured in a Tom Waits songbook to be released this year by Ace Records, with covers personally selected by Tom himself.

Man I do not understand magazines. Why does it say April if it's already out?

Quote
Glimmerest

Quote
Cristiano Radtke

Quote
Glimmerest

Quote
Cristiano Radtke

Mojo magazine, April 2025

Oh it's coming out in a couple of months? Wonder if there will be info about the possible biopic.

It's already out in UK shops. Other than that obituary, she's mentioned in another article of this issue as being one of the artists (among Bruce Springsteen and Willie Nelson) that will be featured in a Tom Waits songbook to be released this year by Ace Records, with covers personally selected by Tom himself.

Man I do not understand magazines. Why does it say April if it's already out?

Yes, that's very odd, to say the least. But there's an explanation for that: longer shelf life, so that it appears it is current for longer. And also the date on the cover is actually the date that that magazine is pulled off the stands as the new current issue is out.

Quote
Cristiano Radtke

Quote
Glimmerest

Quote
Cristiano Radtke

Quote
Glimmerest

Quote
Cristiano Radtke

Mojo magazine, April 2025

Oh it's coming out in a couple of months? Wonder if there will be info about the possible biopic.

It's already out in UK shops. Other than that obituary, she's mentioned in another article of this issue as being one of the artists (among Bruce Springsteen and Willie Nelson) that will be featured in a Tom Waits songbook to be released this year by Ace Records, with covers personally selected by Tom himself.

Man I do not understand magazines. Why does it say April if it's already out?

Yes, that's very odd, to say the least. But there's an explanation for that: longer shelf life, so that it appears it is current for longer. And also the date on the cover is actually the date that that magazine is pulled off the stands as the new current issue is out.

Ah. I never thought of any of that. Thanks.

My pleasure, Glimmerest!

Back to Marianne, here's a partial recording of one of her concerts in São Paulo in 1999. The DJ was at the concert and he got a soundboard recording that he broadcasted some years ago.
[www.mixcloud.com]

KEITH RICHARDS REMEMBERS ‘TOTALLY SINGULAR, UNIQUE’ MARIANNE FAITHFULL

More than six decades after Richards co-wrote Faithfull’s breakout single, "As Tears Go By," he recognizes the late singer's “pure and simple” voice, her impact on the Rolling Stones, and her 1979 masterpiece, Broken English

By KORY GROW

FEBRUARY 23, 2025



Richards and Faithfull at New York City's Rainbow Room, 1996

LYNN GOLDSMITH/CORBIS/VCG/GETTY IMAGES)

A decade ago, when Rolling Stone published a Keith Richards special collectors’ issue, Marianne Faithfull submitted a moving tribute to her friend. “I like Keith more than almost anybody in the world,” she wrote. Faithfull thanked the Rolling Stones‘ guitarist in the missive for co-writing “As Tears Go By,” the baroque-pop ballad that launched her career as a gentle-voiced folk songbird at age 17. That single, released in 1964, was also the first original composition by Richards and Mick Jagger (with a co-credit going to manager Andrew Loog Oldham). Later that year, Richards played acoustic guitar on Faithfull’s cover of Bob Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind.”

Faithfull also credited Richards in the tribute with turning her on to blues musicians like Robert Johnson and Muddy Waters, as well as Merle Haggard’s “Sing Me Back Home,” a song they eventually recorded together. And she applauded him for standing up for her when the British tabloids came after her following a drug bust at Richards’ estate in 1967. The Stones recorded a song she co-wrote with Jagger and Richards, “Sister Morphine,” about her struggles with drugs, on their 1971 album, Sticky Fingers. “All those experiences we had together kept us close,” she said.

Faithfull’s career blossomed in the late Seventies and Eighties after she made forays into country, New Wave, post-punk, and jazz on albums like Broken English and Strange Weather, the latter of which featured a new arrangement of “As Tears Go By.” That rendition, recorded when she was 40, complemented the way her voice deepened with age. “Forty is the age to sing it, not 17,” she told Rolling Stone. She recorded albums with help from artists like Beck, Nick Cave, and PJ Harvey in the past few decades, reworking the song again, at age 71, with Warren Ellis, for her 2018 album, Negative Capability.

When Faithfull died last month, Richards posted a photo of the two of them with a short note expressing his heartfelt condolences to her family. In a new interview with Rolling Stone, the guitarist — who says he’s talking to Jagger about going back in the studio this year — opens up about losing his dear friend. “I’ve kind of known and expected to hear [she had passed] for quite a while,” he says. “She’s not been well. It’s a very sad thing.” In his own tribute to her, Richards says he’ll always remember her perseverance.

Here is Richards remembering Faithfull in his own words.

Marianne was a great friend and a very strong woman. It was interesting to watch her grow up through the years. The first time I met her, she had just got out of convent [St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Convent School]. Mick and I looked at each other and said, “Is that what they’ve got behind those walls, man?” [Laughs.]

She was managed by Andrew Oldham, who was the Stones’ manager in the beginning. He had said to Mick and me, “Look, we really need songs if we are going to get things happening here. I mean, look at the Beatles.” I go, “Yeah, but we’re a blues band.” Andrew said, “Go in the kitchen for the night, and I’ll lock you in and see what you come up with.” And I’m saying, “Well, OK.” “Good luck.” We struggled through the night in this kitchen, and we did actually come out with “As Tears Go By.”

We played it to Andrew the next day, and he said, “OK.” Within a week, he’s playing me a dub of Marianne singing it, and I go, “Wow, this is pretty quick. Who’s this girl?” And Andrew introduced us.

She was totally green at recording, but she walked into it very confidently and took it away. She was very sure of herself. And then of course, Mick and I are looking at each other and saying, “Well, if this is songwriting, let’s do some more.”

Marianne’s voice then was very pure, very untrained, which is great. She had a form of sincerity that she always kept, even as her voice changed through the years. She always meant what she did. She loved it, but she had none of that sort of showbiz side, which can get in the way. If you listen to her first record, her voice is incredibly pure and simple — but it had just the right edge on it. She knew what to do with it.

It was hard to argue with Marianne. Luckily, I had no reason to, but from other people who did, it was a no-go, really. She was also a great laugh, and there was absolutely no pretension about her, which is very hard to believe sometimes with singers like that.

We became very good friends a few years later, when she was living with Mick. I stood up for her after the Redlands bust [when tabloids reported she’d been found naked in Richards’ home] because it was unfair to pick on the lady, and also it was my damn house. She just happened to be there. She had nothing to do with it, and I just felt that was a bit unfair. I felt that I had to.

I used to see her when I’d pop around to pick Mick up to go to the studio. She was honing her songwriting skills then because she was throwing Mick pages of ideas for songs as well. Marianne was always ready to listen to anything. She had a great ear for music. She really liked good folk music and jazz. She was always curious.

There’s sort of a vein of Marianne that runs through a certain number of the Stones’ Sixties songs. She’s definitely behind them somewhere. I can hear her influence in “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” and some of the songs around the time of Beggars Banquet. “Sister Morphine” [the Sticky Fingers cut she co-wrote] was pretty much finished by the time I’d gotten to it. When I heard it, I thought, “Now she’s really setting it down.” She did have her moments with the devil, but there again, it’s probably one of the best dope songs that there is. It’s a beautiful visual, too.

I would say [1979’s] Broken English is where she started to make her own statements as an artist. I loved Broken English. I hadn’t heard anything about her for a while. But when I heard that, I thought, “Marianne’s back. That’s cool.” I didn’t see or hear a lot of her for years. I’d never know when I’d bump into her. Suddenly, she was there and, “Oh, Marianne’s here.” She’s just always been a cool friend in the background, and I’ve always admired her for taking that job on as a woman, especially in the Sixties, Seventies, and Eighties; she’s a very bold girl. I mean, Christ, I saw her singing up in the Rainbow Room alongside Darlene Love [in 1996]. I thought it was incredibly gutsy of Marianne to do that.I haven’t heard the other versions of “As Tears Go By” that she recorded, but I understand what she meant [by saying the song is for an older person to sing]. You could do the young version and the song ages with it.

I recorded a version of Merle Haggard’s “Sing Me Back Home” with her [in 2007] as an overdub. I’d heard that she’d recorded it, and they sent the tape, and I did it on an overdub because both Marianne and I love Merle Haggard; that song was a staple with Gram [Parsons] and me. We loved Merle too.

The last time I spoke with Marianne was a couple of years ago, probably ’22 — the last time we were on tour in England, but that’s basically how Marianne and I always were. We were always briefly passing by. She was a great girl. I’m going to miss her very much.

She should be remembered as being Marianne Faithfull. She was a totally singular, unique character who stood her own ground, and I think she should be proud of what she did.

[www.rollingstone.com]?

Lovely article. Feels very genuine feelings from Keith